🔥 The fireside #4 - The blockchain bubble, Level 3 thinking and the most terrifying monitoring system ever created

It’s been a LONG time since the last issue of the Fireside.I’m sorry for the long delay but I’ve taken a couple of weeks off in Cuba in the beginning of January and, for those who don’t know (including myself before booking), Cuba doesn’t have access to the Internet.

Well… technically it does.. if you buy a scratch card for $1… for an hour of very slow connection… only in specific areas… and if you can spell your date of birth in Sanskrit… in reverse order.

So long story short, I decided to be completely offline for 14 days and… God, did I need it! No email, no Twitter, no Whatsapp, no bullshit. I don’t think I have been disconnected for so long in 10 years.

If you haven’t tried yet, please do it, even just for 3-4 days.Trust me, it will help you cure your technological addiction and you give you a bit of perspective.

⛓ Everyone talks about blockchain technology and how it’s going to change the world, yet ten years in, nobody has come up with a use for it. Read this article if you need a fresh perspective on this crypto-mania.

💣 The evil twin of the previous article, this post from the NYTimes explains why the blockchain technology is important and why you must see “Beyond the bitcoin bubble”. (I particularly appreciated this post for trying to explain WTF is happening without using tech-jargon).

👋 Not that you asked for it, but I’ve written a review of my 2017. Amazing read if you want to waste 5 minutes of your life.

What I'm reading 📚

I’ve just finished “Blitzed” by Norman Ohler, a rather unusual book about one of the most overlooked aspects of WW2: the drug use (and abuse) by the Nazi Army. When it comes to Nazi war victories and horrors nobody thinks of drugs, yet Ohler (with the help of thousands of previously classified documents) reconstructs a world where methamphetamines and other performance-enhancement drugs (including cocaine) were routinely administered to soldiers and generals. Ohler’s hyperbolic style is sometimes completely unnecessary, but worth a read.